Charity collection boxes featuring Noddy figures were booted out of Hackney’s libraries to make way for collection boxes for the mayor’s own charity – but she had not yet chosen one.

The Noddy boxes were raising funds for a rheumatism research charity and had been in the libraries in Stamford Hill and Woodberry Down for two years.

Maurice Leigh, the local representative for the Arthritis and Rheumatism Council for Research, was fuming at the decision to ban his boxes – especially in light of the fact that Cllr Nasrullah Syed, the figurehead mayor, had not yet picked a charity to support. Mr Leigh, of Lordship Road, said: “I am incensed about this business.

“The people who visit the libraries have always been very generous and we usually have £25 when we empty every three months.”